Ignore Social Media and It Will Go Away!

Imagine standing in the center of the highway with an 18 wheeler barreling directly towards you at 70 miles per hour; would covering your eyes and acting as though you where impervious make the truck go away? Of course not; in-fact, you'd be steam rolled and blasted all over the highway.

Now imaging that your business is standing in the middle of the social media stream; does covering your eyes make the social conversation go away? Of course not; but some companies feel that since the can't have complete control over the message they would rather not get involved. The truth is, just like standing in front of that 18 wheeler, ignoring the problem will probably only make it worse and eventually you're going to get run over.

Where is the disconnect? How can business owners, CEO's and managers who have the intelligence to foresee financial troubles not have, or even get, a clue about the possible troubles their brand is having online? Is it fear of the unknown; perhaps it's the unwillingness to change? A great example of a company that understands opinion matters to your brand is Domino's Pizza. Recently they lunched Pizza Turnaround based upon feedback they received from focus groups and the great part is they're coming out and saying essentially, We Sucked! Guess what, the social and viral aspects of this campaign have been awesome, my next pizza will be from Domino's just to see if it actually is better.

Finally, Let's go back to that highway and instead of ignoring the situation what if we were a little more proactive? Maybe we could wear a reflective jacket, how about some road flares or maybe even just the foresight to step out of the way for a moment and observe. The point is, social media can be just like that highway and just because you choose to ignore it, that does not mean that you won't get blasted all over the road.